Visitors to Elmwood Park Zoo scream for Petrucci's Ice Cream

Petrucci recently opened in Elmwood Park Zoo in Norristown June 12, 2014. In this photo is the Zoo’s Executive Director Al Zone along with Petrucci’s Ice Cream’s Proprietors Russell Herbein and Keith Shenk as well as the Zoo’s family members, The Zoo’s mascot Bubby the Bison, Temple University’s Mascot Stella the Great Horn Owl, and other assorted birds are also seen. Photo by Gene Walsh / Times Herald Staff.

Petrucci’s Ice Cream & Water Ice

Elmwood Park Zoo

1661 Harding Blvd.

Norristown

Open daily, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

www.petruccisicecream.com

610-354-0205

NORRISTOWN — Good things happen when animals and people bond over ice cream.

Now that Petrucci’s Ice Cream & Water Ice of King of Prussia has set up shop at Elmwood Park Zoo, visitors can mingle with the cockatoo, the donkey and the Flemish Giant Rabbit while strolling through the zoo with a hand-scooped or soft-serve treat on a sweltering summer day.

The scoop is that the partnership between Petrucci’s and EPZ is another business-savvy move by executive director Al Zone.

“Kids and ice cream … a great combination,” Zone said. “We really want to get more local businesses involved with the zoo.”

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Prior to Petrucci’s, visitors who craved a sweet frozen indulgence had a single option — packaged confections available in the gift shop.

“But it’s not the same thing as getting fresh ice cream in a cone or waffle cone,” Zone said. “I like to say if you’re going to do something, you need to let the experts do what the experts do. I don’t necessarily want to get in the ice cream business but I want to have the best product imaginable, and people are as excited as we are to have Petrucci’s here at the zoo.”

The timing fell into place when partners Russell Herbein and Keith Shenk, who’ve owned the Petrucci’s operation on Norview Farm, 670 N. Henderson Road, for the last 15 years, got a call from Zone: Would the men be interested in opening a second location?

Ironically, Herbein admitted that when he helped out with a couple of fundaisers at the zoo the notion of branching out permanently among the Nigerian Dwarf Goats and the armadillos greatly appealed to him.

“I thought it would be interesting to open a little stand here at the zoo, but when I called they told me the zoo had a contract with Hershey and couldn’t bring any other ice cream in.”

That was before Zone came on board, when it was out with the mass-produced, corporate goods and in with the small-business guys and their freshly made products.

“I knew the perfect location for them would be next to the playground,” Zone said.

Soon the Amish were summoned from Lancaster County to cobble together the sturdy structure that sports the trademark Petrucci’s pink-and-teal colors and a mural of monkeys screaming for ice cream.

Before Herbein and Shenk had a passion for ice cream and community, they were bankers, Herbein recalled.

Initially, they launched two Petrucci’s franchises in their native Berks County and eventually moved to King of Prussia, selling off the original locations.

“Fourteen years ago we went independent from the franchise company,” Herbein said. “We kept the name, but we’re an independent operation. We have somebody making the ice cream for us in New Jersey, but it’s all our own recipes. You can’t go someplace and buy it; it’s ours.”

Whether it’s on the farm — now known as Norview Farm Park and run by Upper Merion Township — or the zoo, Petrucci’s water ice is made fresh every day.

Zoo guests get to lap, lick and slurp their way through such water ice flavors as mango, lemon, strawberry-lemonade, cotton candy, blueberry, cappuccino and sugar-free lemon.

Soft serve comes in chocolate, vanilla and chocolate-vanilla twist, with toppings topping out at 22 varieties.

“We have a limited sundae menu, but anybody that has a party here where we do the catering can have all the toppings they want,” Herbein said.

Although it’s only been open a short while, Herbein said the EPZ Petrucci’s is already attracting a loyal following.

“We’re extremely community oriented, with fundraisers for schools and groups, and all our catering,” Herbein said, “People have really supported us in King of Prussia and we’d like to continue that here too.”